Key Weapon for Battle – INFLUENCERS

The clue is in the name: essentially, they are individuals who have the ability to influence the opinions or buying decisions of your target audience, largely thanks to their social media following Simpson (2015).

According Trammell & Keshelashvili (2005), influencers influence by impression management tactics and self-presentation. In addition, this idea holds central from everything that happens after that. They use their personal attributes to engage with consumers which increases their followings due to the interest created. Each influencer has a different type of appeal whether it be inspirational, analyst, activists etc. Many industries have seen the positive impact that they can have on their brand. The fashion industry, is a sector that have really capitalised on the use of influencer marketing.

 

Boohoo Influencer Example – Jordyn Woods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRRyt4dgbRc

Boohoo decided to do a collaboration with Jordyn Woods to promote bomber jackets, dusters and party looks in barely-there nude silks and gem stones. Emphasis on the availability of the range in  UK sizes from 8-24 portrays why Jordyn may have been targeted by Boohoo. Jordyn describes herself as a naturally super curvy girl and feels her body will never be size 0. Consumers (curvy girls in this case) have evaluations of themselves, which contribute to their self-image Grubb & Hupp (1968). Therefore, the representation of this influencer will attract many other customers who can relate to this image particularly those considered to be “plus size”.  The use of someone that connects with the brand also means she can connect others with the brand. According to Barletta (2004), one of women’s highest values is a feeling of closeness and connection with another person, therefore capturing this increases the opportunity of success for the campaign.

Read about how attitudes can influence intentions to buy: Click here…

Boohoo could not have got it more right in this battle because this represents a segment of the market that used to be left out! Embracing who you are is so important.

In addition, as Kylie Jenner’s best friend, this will lead to an increase in social ties Steffes & Burgee (2009). As the exposure will span past the following that Jordyn has and will include Kylie Jenner’s strong brand and her social ties therefore the multiplier effect. Interested in social ties? Click here to read about social ties and online word of mouth

Read this to find out more on the Boohoo and Jordyn collaboration

 

H&M Influencer Example – Camille Charrière

Although, Camille’s overall social media following is not as much in comparison to other influencers, her style is unique and the Parisian style is very much in trend. Mid-tier bloggers also might offer a more targeted, engaged audience Phelan (2016). Therefore, she can influence those interested in the particular style to want to purchase it from H&M. H&M also make mention of her in their blogs to reinstate the relation and her connection with the brand. This understanding of the target market means that H&M can capture their ideal buyers with the help of Camille as according the Popcorn & Marigold (2000), the first rule of marketing is to understand your market.

Below shows an example of H&M promoting their work with Camille on their twitter page. This expands the avenues of social media use for the page and therefore increases the potential to reach more people. Further this is also good for search engine optimisation.

 

New Look Influencer Example – Beckii Cruel

New Look wanted to reach a young female audience to promote their winter clothing line. They decided to use Beckii Cruel, a top fashion influencer to run a competition where she wore a New Look winter scarf in four different ways and encouraged her audience to take a piece of clothing and wear it in their way . This is strategic because it is more likely to influence overt consumer behaviour so that sales are made rather than just change the way they think Peter, Olson &Grunert (1999). Audience members uploaded to a branded New Look destination and shared their photo with friends for votes to enter the competition.

The results were 180, 000 impressions, 70,000 engagements. Bloggers today are considered as independent experts by the general public Trammell & Keshelashvili (2005). This explains the success of New Look as the opinion of Beckii is highly rated by potential consumers. The benefit of using a “mid-tier” influencer is they have more emotional attachment to your brand, among audiences who are largely likely to convert Mangiaforte (2016). Sometimes, more A-list celebrities are unable to really connect with consumers as much. Moreover, consumers have become more alert and relate less to celebrities as it seems they have their own world. Influencers seem to bridge this gap therefore people are able to associate more with them.

 

ASOS –Influencer Example –Tanya Burr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFJ5j9MhHdo

Asos are aware that Tanya Burr’s strongest point of contact in other words influence is YouTube. Therefore, she maximises her use of this influence by promoting the Asos brand and the things that she wears on that channel as a source to reach the target market. Although, influencer marketing is not all about the level of followers but Tanya Burr has proved that she has the power to intiate consumers to interact. This can be seen when she posts a question about snapchat and instagram. Further Grönroos (2004) explains that receiving interactions should be apart of the core framework in marketing strategies. 43,569 votes on Twitter highlights the command she has on her followers and the ability to get them to engage with her .

Below is a small preview of some of the projects Tanya Burr has done with Asos. Evidently, Asos are achieving results hence the continuation of the videos. Tanya Burr is considered as an online expert in fashion and other topics and has built the trust of her followers Cheng, Bansal & Koudas (2013).  More on analysing experts and interests on twitter Click here …

Ultimately, online fashion brands that want to improve web presence and brand recognition in the market need to implement social media into their strategy (Bowen and Ozuem, 2016). Read about how fashion brands can use instagram to boost brand engagement and online presence with a speicifc section on how Asos use the Instagram account ‘ASSEENONME’  to inspire its followers. Click here..

Primark Influencer Example – Zoella

Primark have hit the jackpot with an influencer such as Zoella for 2017. She is one of the most influential influencers of our time. In addition, she has built a very strong brand for herself. The platform she has built enables her to sell a variety of things. Therefore, Primark’s investment in her as an influencer is highly likely to pull off and gain some ROI. She is regarded as an A-list blogger and they reveal more information about themselves than other bloggers and actively engage in impression management Leary (1995) . 

Cons of using Influencers 

Selecting the correct influence can be quite a hard task as there are millions to choose from and not everyone will align with the business. An influence may just accept to participate in promoting a brand because they see it as a salary therefore, it is the job of the business to select influencers who also connect with the brand and therefore, not just able to reach a large audience but can present the brand so others can also engage with it. Further, have positive self-congruity with the brand Sirgy (1982).
Moreover, it still remains questionable how much influence an influencer will actually have on the projects that they take on. As influencers do not guarantee viral content. And the argument remains that they cannot guarantee action. Influencer marketing introduces a whole new layer of difficulty in conversion attribution as in a lot of cases tracking the actual results can be difficult Brown & Hayes (2008).

Some of the influencers are believed to have a short-span in terms of how influenctial they are. An example is Zoella, who sometimes acts much younger than her age for partciular campigns. Therefore, the question arises how long it will take before her age catches up on her. L’Ore’al recently reported that brands use infleuncer wrongly by not including a strong relationship between the brand infleuncer. This highlights how easy to get carried away with selecting a influencer on a short term basis and not building a relationship or finding one that really relates to the brand they are promoting.

 

References

Barletta, M. (2004) Marketing to women. Dearborn: Dearborn Trade Pub

Bowen, G. and Ozuem, W. (2016). Competitive social media marketing strategies. 1st ed. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference.

Brown, D. & Hayes, N. (2008) Influencer marketing: Routledge

Cheng, A., Bansal, N. & Koudas, N. (2013) Peckalytics: Analyzing experts and interests on twitter. In Proceedings of the 2013 ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data pp. 973-976

Grönroos, C., (2004) The relationship marketing process: communication, interaction, dialogue, value. Journal of business & industrial marketing, Vol.19,No.2, pp.99-113

Leary, M.R. (1995) Self-presentation: Impression management and interpersonal behaviour: Brown & Benchmark Publishers

Mangiaforte, L.B. (2016) ROI and the Power of the Mid-Tier Social Influencer at Scale [Online] http://blog.obvious.ly/news/2016/7/8/roi-and-the-power-of-the-mid-tier-social-influencer-at-scale [Accessed 20^th March 2017]

Peter, J.P., Olson, J.C. & Grunert, K.G. (1999) Consumer behaviour and marketing strategy .London: McGraw-Hill

Phelan (2016) .The power of mid-tier blogger, [Online] <http://www.racked.com/2016/5/23/11703698/mid-tier-bloggers-whatvwore> [Accessed 18 April 2017]

Simpson.J. (2015) What are influencers and how do you find them [Online] https://econsultancy.com/blog/66560-what-are-influencers-and-how-do-you-find-them/ [Accessed 24^th March 2017]

Sirgy, M. J. (1982) Self-Concept in Consumer Behaviour: A Critical Review. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.9, No.3, pp.287-300

Steffes, E.M. & Burgee, L.E.(2009) Social ties and online word of mouth.Internet research, Vo.19,No,1, pp.42-59

Telegraph (2017) How to use influencers in your next marketing, 11 January 2017campaign [Online] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connect/better-business/how-to-use-influencers-in-your-marketing-campaign/[accessed [Accessed 16th March 2017]

Trammell, K.D. & Keshelashvili, A. (2005) Examining the new influencers: A self-presentation study of A-list blogs. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Vol.82.No.4, pp.968-982